That's the background, and of course, there's a story in there: namely that of a very young Free, who rushes off all alone to get her baby-brother back out of the city. Because it was she, who didn't properly look after him, when it was actually her turn to do so, and suddenly the little nuisance was gone. And doesn't seem so bad after all. In fact, suddenly she remembers all sorts of sweet things about him, for example how, only a fortnight ago, he had saved all his best bronberries for her, when she came back late from hunting.

And on this perilous, yay, insane adventure she meets different sorts of people, turns out to be dumber than she thought, and needs help - but just a little, because she is, without a doubt, the strongest and most cunning person around. And also the best with her slingshot.

Male Fingercats, by the way, are very different from their female counterparts. The dwell mostly in the dense forrest where they climb about, not talking much, and wanting nothing to to with glamour. They feed on fruits, seeds, and flowers and stay clear of the carnivorous females. Those, when the right time comes, lay small eggs on top of walls or towers, screaming in agony all the while, which attracts the tomcats. These dare emerge only after the female has left. Then, whoever is first, grabs the egg and places it inside a pouch at his belly. In there, the egg is fertilized and hatched, the baby then fed with insects, and small mammals, until it gets to large for the pouch and wants out.

He then returns it to where he found the egg, and leaves it there, for the mother to find. These kids are incredibly cuddly, and the mothers love them, until they are grown to young aduldhood. When their color turns from white to yellow or greenish, the mothers attack them with claws and teeth, again shouting very loud, this time in a sort of derisive laughter.

Are the kids male, their father hasten to get them back into the forest, where they teach what there is to know. The female children, on the other hand, accept the challange and fight their mothers, until one of them is dead, or rarely, their follwing of idiots split and both females rule in neighbouring reigns.

The fingercats are indeed goddesses of cruelty, with poisonous claws, manipulative minds, and a keen sense of glee. They try to keep the Free out of their habitats, because the civilized Furrers are so useful to them, and so much in awe by them. The Free on the other hand, not only dislike, but make fun of them. Very bad for the reputation.

So if they manage to catch an adult Free, they torture them in open sessions, usually well populated by civilizedFurrers, who themsleves dislike the cheeky Free, but on the other do feel an uneasiness, deep down, because of the obvious physical likeness...

It is well-known, that the sentinels are extremely ticklish. And the Free shot at them with chick-peas which, of course, contain giggle-inducing carbonhydrates. No matter where they're hit, they start giggling, which makes them easier to hit again, and after about 5 to 10 hits, they become totally helpless from laughing so hard, thus giving the Free a chance to steal their babies back. And the sentinels actually like to laugh, so they never hold grudges against the Free for that. Which is fortunate, because if they would get it into their minds to punish every Free they see, those Furrers had little chance of survival.

The one backdraw to this method is the level of noise produced by the laughter. A Fingercat who hears a sentinel laugh will certainly come running to thwart the Furrers plans.

And then there's the Free. Furrers like those former servants who consider themselves the civilised. The for-mothers of the Free have fled the reign of the Old Ones long ago, unwilling to serve any master. They have shed mores and opressive mindsets and with incredible patience and over many generations built a way of living that respects the indivual and the good of all in equal parts.

They wear nothing but their furs, which are so useful, it seems stupid to put clothes over them, they even have pockets!

And because all this is so long going already, the different sets of Furrers don't recall their kinship. So the inner-city Furrers train the sentinels to capture Free-children, to clean their chimneys with.

Long, long time ago, there used to be an enormous city here. Build by the Old Ones, who got born old and feeble, and stupid, and grew wiser and stronger with the years, then, of course, succumbing to infantiliy before the end. They built by turning mountains of rock into castles and errected the surrounding cities out of the rubble - still huge bolders. Their civilisation was connected by trade to all the known world, which was large back then, before the fall, and they had to built that way, to make an impression on trade-partners, who are alwayys also potential threats.

These old ones are long gone, more or less extinct after many generations of snobish inbreeding, the only ones left are idots, and those are worshipping the Fingercats like goddesses. The most eager among them will hack off parts of their bodies to offer to those cruel creatures...